Inking drive and interrupter for multicolor aniline printing machine



July 27, 1965 A. FINKE 3,196,787

INKING DRIVE AND INTERRUPTER FOR MULTICOLOR ANILINE PRINTING MACHINEFiled July 16, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet l fin Ila

am i! y 7, 1965 A. FINKE 3,196,737

INKING' DRIVE AND INTERRUPTER FOR MULTICOLOR ANILINE PRINTING MACHINEFiled July 16, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 llllllllllllllllllllll! :MHI'ITIFll/II/llllI/I/IllqllllllIIIIIIIIIl/lll/I INVENTO/P 99/70 FZ/V XEA7%MMMMM A TTOR/YE X5 July 27, 1965 A. FINKE 3,196,787

INKING DRIVE AND INTERRUPTER FOR MULTICOLOR ANILINE PRINTING MACHINEFiled July 16, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 EU \I 57 /NVENTUP /7/-?/)/0 FJ/VKEg jbww w m United States Patent 6 Claims. (Ci. l132) The presentinvention relates to a multicolor aniline printing machine in which thedipping and applicator rollers of all printing units are driven afterthe stopping of the main motor by an auxiliary motor in order to avoid adrying and encrusting of the ink on the rolls during intervals or pausesin the printing.

In known machines of this type, the auxiliary motor is disconnectedafter the connecting of the main motor and the bringing of the platecylinder into the operating position and the drive of the ink rollers ofthe printing units is also taken over by the drive motor, the dippingand inking rollers rotating with the same peripheral speed.

in practice, however, it has been found that particularly when theinking rollers are developed as screen rollers, in case of the sameperipheral speed of the dipping and inkling rollers, the transfer of inkbetween the two rollers is defective. In order to obtain simultaneouslywith the transfer of the ink also an advantageous distributing of theink onto the inking roller, it has been the practice to drive thedipping roller at a somewhat lower speed than the inking roller, so thatthe two ink rollers scrape. The amount of the difference in speed is,however, very slight and not variable.

It is accordingly the purpose of the present invention, inter alia, tocreate a multicolor aniline printing machine of the type described abovein which the speed of the clipping rollers is variable within widelimits, but in which this speed, however, cannot exceed the speed of theinking rollers.

in accordance with the invention, this result is obtained in the mannerthat as an auxiliary motor, there is used an adjustable continuouslyrotating motor, so that the dipping rollers of all printing units arecontinuously driven by the auxiliary motor, and that the inking rollersof all printing units are connected in each case with the interpositionof a freewheel clutch, both with the main motor and with the auxiliarymotor of the machine in such a manner that the inking rollers are drivenby the main motor when it is in operation and by the auxiliary motorwhen the main motor is stopped.

It has proven advisable that the auxiliary motor drives, in knownmanner, a central gear which in its turn drives, via intermediate gears,the outer ring, containing a gear rim, of the first freewheel clutch onthe shaft of each inking roller, that a gear fixed to the shaft of eachplate cylinder drives the outer ring also containing a gear rim of thesecond freewheel clutch on the shaft of each inking roller, and that theinner rings of the freewheel clutches can rotate with the same or higherspeed as that of the outer rings.

The drive of each dipping roller is effected from the gear rim of thefirst freewheel clutch. In this connection, a gear wheel which drives adipping roller can be in direct engagement with said gear rim.

In order to create the possibility of being able to drive individualdipping rollers with a special step-up ratio, there can be connectedwith the gear rim of the first freewheel clutch of each inking roller areplaceable gear which is in engagement with a gear, also replaceable,on the shaft of the corresponding dipping roller.

In order to avoid any unintended large scraping of the dipping andinking rollers which are driven independently ice of each other duringthe printing, resulting from an increase in the speed of operation ofthe machine, the invention proposes driving the auxiliary motor as afunction of the main motor in such a manner that its speed of rotation,adjusted by actuation of an adjusting member, changes proportionallywith the speed of rotation of the main motor.

The dependence of the auxiliary motor on the main motor can be obtainedon the one hand by providing a generator which is driven by the mainmotor and which feeds the auxiliary motor with the plate cylindersbrought into their operating position.

On the other hand, it is possible to provide a generator which generatesa signal and which is driven by the main motor and which feeds a voltageconversion device, via which the auxiliary motor, when the platecylinders are brought into their operating position, is fed from thepowerlines.

When using a DC. main motor, the dependance of the auxiliary motor onthe main motor can be obtained in such a manner that when the main motoris fed via a rectifier from a variable transformer, the auxiliary motor,when the plate cylinders are brought into their operating position, isfed via a rectifier from a transformer, the primary winding of which isconnected to the voltage tapped from the adjustable transformer for themain motor.

In these embodiments, there is provided a unit switch which cooperateswith the jointly adjustable plate cylinder and which in its restposition connects the auxiliary motor to a power line and which inactuated position connects the auxiliary motor to the circuit controlledby the main motor, or vice versa, depending on the arrangement.

If a DC. motor is used as a mairi motor, then, as a further developmentof the invention, the dependance of the auxiliary motor on the mainmotor can also be obtained by having a voltage tapped from its feedVoltage act on a voltage conversion device through which the auxiliarymotor is fed from a power line. In this embodiment, the limit switchwhich cooperates with a plate cylinder is eliminated.

For adaptation to the operating conditions which are most favorable inthe instant case, the speed ratio of the two motors is preferablyvariable by means of an adjusting member.

One embodiment of a multicolor aniline printing machine having thefeatures of the present invention is described by way of example belowwith reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a four-color aniline printing machine shownschematically;

FIG. 2 is a top view of one printing unit of the machine; I

FIG. 3 is a view along the line III-J11 of FIG. 2 of a portion of thechain of wheels, on a larger scale;

FIG. 4 shows a detail of FIG. 2 in a modified embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic showing of one form of electrical circuit for theauxiliary motor;

FIG. 6 is a schematic showing of a further form of the electricalcircuit for the auxiliary motor; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic showing of a still further form of the electricalcircuit for the auxiliary motor.

The four printing units 1 to 4 (FIG. 1) each comprise a dipping roller 6which removes the ink from a trough 5, an inking roller 7, a platecylinder 8 and a back pressure cylinder 1t acting on the back side ofthe web 9.

From a main motor (not shown) there is driven a gear 11 which is inengagement with a central gear 14 which drives all the back pressurecylinders 10 via separate gears 13 (FIG. 2) fixedly mounted on shaft 12.On shaft 12 of each back pressure cylinder, there is also keyed a gear15 which, via a gear 16, drives the shaft 3 17 bearing the platecylinder 8. On the shaft 13 of each inking roller 7, there is fixedlymounted the inner ring of a freewheel clutch 19, the outer ring of whichcontains a gear rim which is in engagement with the gear 16.

An auxiliary motor 20, via the worm 21, worm wheel 22 and gears 23, 24drives a central gear 25 which, in each case, via a pair of intermediategears 26, 27 (FIG. 2), drives a gear rim which is fixed on the outerring of a freewheel clutch 28. The inner ring of the freewheel clutch 28is fixedly mounted like the inner ring of the freewheel clutch 19 on theshaft 18 of the inking roller 7. The clamping members of the twoclutches are so arranged that upon rotation of the clutches in thedirection indicated by the arrows in FIG. 3, the inner rings can rotatewith the same or greater speed of rotation than the outer rings.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, a gear 30 which is fixedly mounted onshaft 29 of the dipping roller 6 is in direct engagement with the gearrim of the freewheel clutch 28.

In order to make it possible to obtain a special speed variation for thedipping roller 6 of individual printing units, a pivot pin 31 isflanged, as shown in FIG. 4, to the gear rim of the freewheel clutch 28,said pivot pin bearing a replaceable gear 32 which is in engagement witha gear 33, also replaceable, on the shaft 291: of the dipping roller 6.

The shafts 12, 17, 18, 29 are rotatably supported in sidewalls 34, 35 ofthe machine frame. The shafts 12 of the back pressure cylinders 10 arecapable of limited axial displacement, and the gears 11, 13, 14 areprovided with spiral toothing. This affords the possibility of exactadjustment of the plate cylinders 8 in a circumferential direction insuch a manner that upon an axial displacement of the back-pressurecylinders 10, there is imparted to the latter by the spiral toothing ofthe gears 13, 14, a rotary motion which is transmitted to the platecylinders 8.

The dipping rollers 6 of each printing unit are driven both uponprinting and in the intervals between printing by the auxiliary motor20. The drive of the inking rollers 7, on the other hand, is effectedduring printing from the main motor via the freewheel clutch 19 and inthe intervals between printing from the auxiliary motor 20 via thefreewheel clutch 28. During printing, the inner ring of the freewheelclutches 28 in general rotates with greater speed than the outer ring,while in the intervals between printing the inner ring of the freewheelclutches 19 rotates and the outer ring generally is stationary. Due tothe freewheel clutches 28, there is an assurance that the dippingrollers 6 can never travel faster than the inking rollers 7.

The drive of the auxiliary motor can be effected in various ways. Afirst embodiment is shown in FIG. 5. As auxiliary motor 20, there isused an adjustable D.C. motor, the field winding 20a of which is excitedby a direct current of constant voltage produced in a rectifier 40. Inthe position shown in the drawing, the armature winding of the motor isfed by a D.C. generator 41, which is driven by the main motor. The fieldwinding 41a of the generator is excited by a direct current produced ina rectifier 42 By means of an adjustable transformer 43, the voltage offield winding 4111 can be adjusted. The speed of rotation of theauxiliary motor 20 thus changes proportionally with the speed ofrotation of the main motor. By adjusting the adjustable transformer 43manually, the speed ratio between the two motors can be varied. Byshifting the contacts 44, 45 into the position shown in dashed lined,the auxiliary motor can be con nected, with the interposition of arectifier 46, to an alternating current system. The switching of theauxiliary motor 20 is effected as a function of the bringing of theplate cylinder 8 into rest or operating position. For this purpose,there is prOVided a limit switch 47 adapted to be actuated by one of theplate cylinders 8 and which in actuated condition closes the excitationcircuit of an auxiliary electrically operated contactor 48 whichcontrols the excitation circuit through the contacts 44, 45 in anactuated or non-actuated condition.

A second possibility of the driving of the auxiliary motor 20 is shownin FIG. 6. In this embodiment, in contradistinction to the embodiment ofFIG. 5, there is provided a signal generator 50 driven by the main motorThe generator 50 sends a signal to a D.C. conversion apparatus 51through which the auxiliary motor 20 is fed from a power line when theplate cylinders are brought into their operating position. The switchingto pure powerline operation is effected in the same manner as in thecase of the embodiment of FIG. 5. Therefore, the same reference numbershave been used for identical parts. Between the generator 50 and conversion apparatus 51, there is provided a voltage regulator 52 having anadjusting member 53 for the manual adjustment of the speed of rotationof the auxiliary motor.

A third possibility for driving the auxiliary motor 29 with the mainmotor in operation, as a function of the latter, is shown in FIG. 7. Thecontacts 55 to 61 can be actuated either directly by special switches orelse indirectly, for instance by an auxiliary contactor, in theexcitation circuit of which there lies a contact which is under theinfluence of the main switch of the machine. The field Winding 20a ofthe auxiliary motor 20 is excited, also in this embodiment, by a D.C.current of constant voltage produced in a rectifier 40. The alternatingvoltage applied to the rectifier 40 comes from a transformer 62, theprimary winding of which can be connected via the contacts 60, 61 to apower line. Through the contacts 57, 58, 59, a voltage conversion device63 with D.C. output is connected to the power line, the output thereforefeeding the armature winding of the auxiliary motor 20. With theinterposition of separate voltage regulators 64, 65, two exciterwindings 63a, 63b of the conversion device 63 are connected with arectifier 66 which feeds them and to which an alternating voltage comingfrom a transformer 67 is applied. The primary winding of the transformercan be connected via the contacts 55, 56 with the alternating currentpower lines. By means of an adjusting member 68 operatively connected toregulator 64, the no-load speed of the auxiliary motor 20 can beregulated. In this embodiment, the main motor 70 must be a D.C. motor.The main motor receives its feed voltage for instance from an adjustabletransformer 71 with rectifier or from a conventional source of supplyprovided with rectifier Through a variable resistance 72, there istapped off from the feed voltage of the main motor a voltage which isapplied via the regulator 65 to the second exciter winding 63b of theconversion device 63. In this embodiment, the speed of rotation of theauxiliary motor 20 can be regulated by adjusting the variable resistor72 in the speed range below the instantaneous speed of the main motor.

In contradistinction to the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, instead of therectifier 66 and the transformer 67 shown in the drawing, in each case arectifier and possibly a transformer can be combined into a single unitwith the regulating members similar to that of the regulators 64, 65.

When using a D.C. main motor which receives its voltage via a rectifierfrom a variable transformer, the auxiliary motor can receive its feedvoltage also via a rectifier from a variable transformer, the primarywinding of which is applied to the voltage tapped from the adjustabletransformer for the main motor When the main motor is stopped, theauxiliary motor will in this case also be fed from a power linecorresponding to the circuits of FIGS. 5 and 6.

For the sake of clearaness it may be further stated, that the D.C.conversion apparatus 51 in FIG. 6 and the voltage conversion device withDC. output 63 in FIG. 7 are amplistates.

The voltage regulator 52 and adjusting member 53 in FIG. 6 as well asthe voltage regulator 64 and the adjusting member 68 in FIG. 7 serve foradapting the voltage of the incoming current to the need of theamplistates 51 and 63 respectively. The elements 52 and 64 therein arethe adjustable resistances and the elements 53 and 655 respectively arehandwheels thereto for making the adjustment.

The voltage regulator 65 in FIG. 7 is a non-adjustable resistance inwhich the voltage of the combined currents coming from the rectifier 66on the one hand and from the variable resistance 72 on the other hand isadapted to the need of the amplistate 63.

What is claimed is:

1. In a multicolor printing machine, a plurality of printing units, eachunit comprising a plate cylinder, a dipping roller, and an inking rollerin engagement therewith, first gear means connected to said platecylinders and interconnecting said inking rollers, first freewheelclutch means operatively associated with said first gear means and eachof said inking rollers, a main electric motor operatively connected tosaid first gear means to drive said plate cylinders and said inkingrollers at a given speed through said first freewheel clutch means,second gear means interconnecting said dipping rollers, second freewheelclutch means operatively associated with said second gear means and saidinking rollers, and an auxiliary electric motor operatively connected tosaid second gear means to drive said dipping rollers continuouslythrough said second freewheel clutch means at a speed slightly diiierentto that of said main motor and to drive said inking rollers through saidsecond freewheel clutch means upon deenergization of said main motor ata speed corresponding to that of the dipping rollers.

2. In a multicolor printing machine according to claim 1 wherein eachsaid freewheel clutch means comprising an inner ring and an outer ring,said inner ring being rotatable at a speed at least equal to that ofsaid outer ring, and said outer ring being provided with a gear rim tocooperate with said gear means.

3. In a multicolor printing machine according to claim 1 wherein eachsaid freewheel clutch means comprising an inner ring and an outer ring,said inner ring being rotatable at a speed at least equal to that ofsaid outer ring, and said outer ring being provided with a replaceablegear operatively connected to a further replaceable gear keyed to theshaft of each of the dipping rollers to vary the speed of at least oneof said dipping rollers with respect to the other dipping rollers.

4. In a multicolor printing machine according to claim 1, an operatingmeans including generator means adapted to be driven by said main motor,said generator means being operatively connected to said auxiliary motorto drive same at a speed slightly different to that of said main motor,and an adjustable transformer operatively associated with said generatormeans to vary the speed ratio between said auxiliary motor and said mainmotor.

5. In a multicolor printing machine according to claim 1, an operatingmeans including generator means adapted to be driven by said main motor,voltage conversion means operatively connected between said auxiliarymotor and said generator means and adapted to be controlled by saidgenerator means, and regulating means disposed between said generatormeans and said voltage conversion means to vary the speed ratio betweensaid auxiliary motor and said main motor.

6. In a multicolor printing machine according to claim ll, an operatingmeans including a main voltage supply, voltage conversion meansoperatively connected to said auxiliary motor, regulating means disposedbetween said main voltage supply and said voltage conversion means tocontrol same, and further regulating means operatively connected betweensaid main motor and said voltage conversion means to vary the speedratio between said auxiliary motor and said main motor.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,039,867 5/36Zuckerman et a1. 101-351 2,224,331 12/40 Wittenebel 101-351 2,283,0035/42 Frostad et al. 101-182 2,285,052 6/42 Roesen 101350 EUGENE R.CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner.

1. IN A MULTICOLOR PRINTING MACHINE, A PLURALITY OF PRINTING UNITS, EACHUNIT COMPRISING A PLATE CYLINDER, A DIPPING ROLLER, AND AN INKING ROLLERIN ENGAGEMENT THEREWITH, FIRST GEAR MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID PLATECYLINDERS AND INTERCONNECTING SAID INKING ROLLERS, FIRST FREEWHEELCLUTCH MEANS OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH FIRST GEAR MEANS AND EACH OFSAID INKING ROLLES, A MAIN ELECTRIC MOTOR OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAIDFIRST GEAR MEANS TO DRIVE SAID PLATE CYLINDERS AND SAID INKING ROLLERSAT A GIVEN SPEED THROUGH SAID FIRST FREEWHEEL CLUTCH MEANS, SECOND GEARMEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID DIPPING ROLLERS, SECOND FREEWHEEL CLUTCHMEANS OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID SECOND GEAR MEANS AND SAID INKINGROLLERS, AND AN AUXILIARY ELECTRIC MOTOR OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAIDSECOND GEAR MEANS TO DRIVE SAID DIPPING ROLLERS CONTINUOUSLY THROUGHSAID SECOND FREEWHEEL CLUTCH MEANS AT A SPEED SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TO THATOF SAID MAIN MOTOR AND TO DRIVE SAID INKING ROLLERS THROUGH SAID SECONDFREEWHEEL CLUTCH MEANS UPON DEENERGIZATION OF SAID MAIN MOTOR AT A SPEEDCORRESPONDING TO THE OF THE DIPPING ROLLERS.